Queen cancels Prince Andrew’s 60th birthday party

The Queen has scrapped plans to host a party for Prince Andrew to mark his 60th birthday in February.

Instead, the monarch is said to be arranging a small family dinner for the Duke, according to The Sunday Times. His birthday is on February 19.

The news comes just days after the Queen effectively sacked him from his royal duties at the behest of her eldest son in the wake of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. 

It has also emerged that Andrew’s bungled BBC Newsnight interview was not sanctioned in advance by the Queen.

‘The Queen did not give her approval. The fact that notion has somehow been put about has aggrieved people in the [royal] households.

‘Andrew had a son-to-mother conversation, letting her know that he was planning to address the controversy, but without going into any details… What should have happened was the full palace process,’ a royal source told the Sunday Times.

Meanwhile, royal author Penny Junor said to the paper: ‘He’s absolutely finished. If Andrew is no longer representing or supporting the monarch in any capacity, or doing good charitably, what’s the point of him?’ 

The Queen is said to be ‘privately supportive’ of her second son but also ‘deeply frustrated’ that the scandal is overshadowing the rest of the family’s work. 

The news comes just days after the Queen effectively sacked him from his royal duties at the behest of her eldest son in the wake of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal

The Duke of York, widely reputed to be the favourite of her three sons, has been under scrutiny over his friendship with Epstein for several years.

He is currently preparing to give up all his charity commitments in a sign that he is unlikely ever to resume royal duties.

Now eighth-in-line to the throne, Andrew quit as Britain’s roving trade ambassador in 2011 after being lambasted for his links to the financier following Epstein’s jailing in 2008 for child sex offences.

Then in 2015, one of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Giuffre, said she was forced to have sex with Andrew in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island between 1999 and 2002, when she says Epstein kept her as a ‘sex slave’.

Andrew first meets Epstein, reportedly introduced through his friendship with Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell. 

Earlier this week, a senior British lawyer warned that Andrew could be arrested and trapped in America if he jets across the Atlantic to speak to the FBI.

US officials are examining procedures for a formal FBI interview with Andrew in Britain, and a source close to the Duke said he would be ‘happy to co-operate’. 

In his BBC interview, Andrew categorically denied the sex claims and gave a series of explanations as to why her account was not true.

He said her account of meeting him sweating and dancing almost two decades ago at a London nightclub before having sex with him could not be true, noting that he suffered from a medical condition that stopped him perspiring.

He also said that on the night he was alleged to have met her he was at home with his family after visiting a Pizza Express restaurant in the commuter town of Woking with his daughter Beatrice.

The explanations provoked derision and ridicule in newspapers and social media.

The Duke of York, widely reputed to be the favourite of her three sons, has been under scrutiny over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein for several years. (Epstein is pictured with Ghislaine Maxwell in New York in 2005)

Prince Andrew’s withdrawal from public life over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal means that all 200 of his charities will need to seek new patrons.

The Queen ordered the Duke of York to step down in an attempt to contain the fall-out from his disastrous TV interview about his friendship with the paedophile billionaire.

It comes as ten of the 35 worldwide sponsors of Andrew’s beloved Pitch@Palace charity pulled the plug on their support and funding.

After his sacking, palace sources confirmed charities he was affiliated with would no longer receive his patronage.